Channing Tatum is no stranger to fast-paced, heart-pumping action films, but the 32-year-old actor is bracing himself for his most challenging role yet: Fatherhood.

"The rest of this year is going to be pretty nuts," he toldUs Weekly at the NYC premiere of his new crime drama thriller Side Effects on Thursday, Jan. 31. "Even during having the baby -- the baby-having process -- it's going to be intense."

But with the new baby on the way, Tatum tells Us that he's hoping to slow down a bit in his professional career. The actor had an impressive five films out in 2012 -- Haywire, The Vow, 21 Jump Street,Magic Mike and Ten Year -- so this year will be about getting behind the camera, he explained.

"We're going to take a break and my [production] partner [Reid Carolin] and I, we're going to try to like direct and do some things like that," he told Us.

"We have about three to four ideas that we love that are all in the hopper. By the end of next year, we're going to shut things down and write the first thing that we're going to direct," Tatum told Entertainment Weekly at the beginning of December. "We're going to be like, alright, no more acting parts for a minute, let's take a few and really get caring about that section of our career."